I have a confession to make: I was not born in Maine. To you non-Mainers this probably elicits a huge yawn. But to Mainers, this relegates me to being "from away" at best. Consequently, my observations will always be suspect to the locals. In many ways, I consider myself a Mainer even if others don't. It is my contention that being a Mainer is a "state of mind" rather than a "state of birth."

So why is a non-Mainer writing about Maine? Hey, why not? Sometimes it takes an outsider to really notice things, sort of like a marriage counselor/referee. One of the first really good descriptions of early American life was written by Alexis de Toqueville who was a real live Frenchman from France, not a Canadian Frenchman from nearby Quebec. So there.